


Complaining

by followyourenergy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas has nothing good to say about other drivers, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Easygoing Dean Winchester, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Grumpy Castiel (Supernatural), Humor, M/M, Snark, Teacher Castiel (Supernatural), Teacher Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-23 22:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21327796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/followyourenergy/pseuds/followyourenergy
Summary: Cas is known for being a little...grouchy. That’s what people who don’t really know him call it, anyway. But Dean knows that his best friend’s (and secret love interest’s) complaining is just his way of blowing off steam. He wonders if he can help Cas find another outlet.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 77
Kudos: 384





	Complaining

**Author's Note:**

> Just a sweet little something while I work on some longer fics. I hope it makes your day a little brighter. ❤️

“Oh, was the store out of blinker fluid? Or do you have a special permit to turn there without a blinker on Friday nights at 6:27? Jackass.”

Dean snickers in the passenger seat as Cas snipes at the driver in front of them who failed to signal his turn. He’s used to his best friend’s running commentary in the driver’s seat. 

_ “Hey, you wanna ride my ass? Buy me a drink first!” _

_ “Oh, I’m sorry, clearly you’re more important, please cut us off so you can get to Whole Foods before the organic goji berries sell out.” _

_ “If you can’t drive it, park it!” _

Cas is known for being a little...grouchy. That’s what people who don’t really know him call it, anyway. But Dean knows it’s just his way of blowing off steam. 

See, Cas is a tightly wound guy. Growing up with ultra-conservative parents and delinquent brothers can do that to a person. Cas was always the odd one in his family, a well-behaved, successful gay liberal, and no one quite knew what to do with him. The pressure to stay strong in the face of his parents’ intolerance and the judgments made on him thanks to his brothers’ reputations was a lot, though. Add that to his idealism and perfectionism, and Cas is tighter than a banjo string. He needs a release valve. And Cas’ release valve is complaining. 

Cas says he doesn’t mind his reputation, though Dean knows Cas was a lonely guy until he found his tribe, the close-knit group of college friends of which Dean was a part. Out of all of those friends, Dean was the first one to figure Cas out. It’s simple, really: let him talk. He doesn’t need a response most of the time. So Dean let him talk all he wanted, allowing his griping to roll off his back like water off his freshly-waxed car. They became fast friends, and it was the best thing to ever happen to Dean. He’s fallen in love with the guy everyone else calls grumpy but he calls passionate, caring, and funny. Well, he doesn’t call him those things to his face, nor has he told him he’s in love with him. Details. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, you can do better than this, I know you can,” he whines later when they’re sitting on the couch, Cas correcting papers while Dean watches _ The Man in the High Castle_. He sees Cas put the paper aside without grading it and knows it’s because he’s planning to follow up with the kid and see how he can help. They both teach at a high school that used to have the lowest reading scores in the state. Now it has one of the highest. Cas doesn’t take as much credit as he should, but Dean knows Cas has been instrumental in bringing those scores up. He’s seen him organize study guides and groups, write lines and lines of thoughtful feedback on essays, and spend weekends researching new methods for teaching to various learning styles. 

He gives them more than just academic support, though. Cas offers fatherly guidance and a listening ear. He’s the one students come to if they didn’t have breakfast that morning, because he keeps a stash of granola bars in his desk. He’s the one who set up a quiet space in his classroom for kids to relax and regroup. He’s the one who talks about respect for others and peer pressure as much as he talks about sentence structure and Shakespeare. He treats them like he values their opinions, and he shows them that he sees their potential. Instead of getting mad when one of his troubled students called him bitchy, Cas told the kid he could do better and challenged him to come up with ten synonyms to describe his behavior. That same kid—who once struggled with school—graduated this year in the top 15% of his class. He’d never seen Cas look prouder. 

“Hey, it’s Friday night, put the work stuff away and hang out with me,” Dean urges him after he grumbles about two more papers. Sometimes he has to remind Cas to take care of himself. “You’ll have way more fun with me than English essays.”

Cas sighs and collects the papers, clips them together, and tucks them neatly in his bag, which he places by the door. “Dean, honestly,” he says with a pointed look when he returns. 

“What?” Dean grins. He knows what’s coming next. 

“We eat there. Why do you have to put your feet on the coffee table?”

“It’s convenient.”

“It’s disgusting.”

Dean’s the one who hears Cas’ griping the most. People who don’t know them well can’t understand how he puts up with Cas as a roommate, never mind best friend (and secret love interest). But he knows Cas needs the outlet, and he finds Cas’ spouting off endearing rather than bothersome because Cas is rarely ever truly upset. He knows the difference. When Cas is simply letting off steam, he’ll make comments but doesn’t demand change. Sarcastic comments like “Pie for dessert—what a surprise” or “Thank God you left your dirty gym clothes on the bathroom floor; I was worried your hamper was getting overworked” fly out of his mouth, yet Cas buys him pie every week and washes and folds his laundry if he goes to the laundromat. When Cas is truly bothered by something, he grows quiet and sincere. “I don’t like it when you make negative comments about yourself,” he told Dean once, and it took some work but Dean stopped because it was important to Cas. 

Most people think that because Cas complains so much, he must be gossipy and backstabbing. They couldn’t be further from the truth. He might comment on something someone else does that affects him, but in regards to others’ lives, he either discusses things with them directly or he keeps his mouth shut. Dean was curious once, some time ago, about whether Cas bitched about him to others. He knows he’s not the easiest person to live with, and at the time he was even worse than now, bringing people home and not cleaning up after himself. They had a few pretty serious talks. But none of their friends or Dean’s family members he’d asked admitted that Cas told them anything other than how wonderful a friend Dean was. Even now, they say how much Cas glows when he talks about him and how he never has a negative word to say (and his brother Sam can hardly believe that Cas is talking about _ his _ big brother). 

Cas steps over Dean’s outstretched legs and collapses next to him on the couch. He squints and grunts, and Dean waits with a playful smirk for whatever will fly out of Cas’ mouth. “You wanted me to put my stuff away and hang out with you. Here I am, and I have to say so far, you’re not living up to your own hype.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said I’ll have more fun with you than English essays. I’ve yet to see proof.”

“Okay, Sassmaster, whaddaya wanna do?”

“I assumed you’d be leading the ‘fun.’”

“Well, I am the Master of Funnermonies,” Dean grins widely. Cas groans.

“Wonderful. I stopped doing something productive to listen to bad wordplay.”

“Hey, don’t insult the Master.”

“Master of your own domain, perhaps.”

They banter back and forth with playful jabs and barely-there touches until Dean is overwhelmed with love for his grumbly Cas, who always laughs with him and not at him, who only expects Dean to change for his own good, who carries so much love in his heart but masks it with complaining to protect himself. He takes in the way Cas leans toward him, the sparkle in his eyes and the smile stretching his lips, and wonders if he can help Cas find another outlet. Carefully, he leans forward until their noses touch; seeing only anticipation in Cas’ eyes, he closes the gap between their mouths with a soft kiss. Their lips connect over and over, slow and eager, until by silent, mutual agreement they part and gaze at each other.

“It’s about time,” Cas grouses. Dean laughs loudly before diving in with abandon, kissing him again and again as he mutters “You had to get the onion pizza, didn’t you?” and “You use a lot of tongue” and “Damn it, Dean” until Cas is giggling and pulling Dean on top of him. 

Later, Cas is a warm pile of loose limbs after Dean thoroughly takes him apart in his bedroom. He smiles crookedly through heavy eyes as Dean wraps himself around him. “So, any complaints?” Dean asks.

Cas turns and nuzzles Dean’s face, planting a tender kiss on his lips. “Not one.”


End file.
